Want More from Your WooCommerce Store? Do More.

WordPress is a content management system that my mother can use. Literally. Her business website is on WordPress and she doesn’t ever have to ask me any questions on how to change anything! I have only taken the liberty of moving her site to our Managed WordPress hosting to speed her site up.

It is one of the many reasons why I love suggesting WordPress and WooCommerce to new eCommerce store owners. WordPress is so easy anyone can use it.

The hardest part of running your eCommerce store is what to do after you have that beautiful site up and running.

Here are 4 ways to strengthen your WooCommerce Store

1. Do More Testing

You don’t have to be an overnight success. We all think our idea is original and better than what anyone else is doing. The truth though is no one really has an original idea. Everyone “knows” Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but that wasn’t even his idea. It was originally a concept from 80 years before he began his experiments.

Though Thomas Edison is usually credited with the invention of the light bulb, the famous American inventor wasn’t the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology.

Once you get over the thought that no one is doing what you are doing concept you can move on and focus on how you can improve your eCommerce store. Do some research before you take any actions and don’t be afraid to change as you go.

A/B testing (sometimes called split testing) is comparing two versions of a web page to see which one performs better. You compare two web pages by showing the two variants (let’s call them A and B) to similar visitors at the same time. The one that gives a better conversion rate wins!

One of the most important lessons you can learn early to set yourself up for success is technology moves quickly and so you need to be able to adapt. Stay on top of your industry and be ready to pivot. The more you know about your product and your customers the more successful you will be in changing when necessary to continue selling your products or services online.

2. Collect More Data

Analytics and Search Console which I mentioned in the point above are free services and in my mind a vital part of knowing your business and your customer. Don’t just guess at who your ideal customer is, know without a doubt who you are selling to.

A good exercise for this is to create your customer “persona.” Some companies or products could have multiple personas, so don’t limit yourself to finding just one. In essence, personas are fictional representations of segments of buyers based on real data reflecting their behaviors.

As you go through this exercise go ahead and write down everything that comes to mind as you work through the steps. You can always go back and edit your thoughts. Think of this as a free writing assignment and as you write an answer write down everything you think as you do. Let’s get started.

First, let’s give your persona a name. I think this will help you visualize your customers. An example could be Business Betsy or Musical Marty.

Next, think about the age of your typical customer. 20-25, 26-30, choose the age group that you believe fits your “Betsy” or “Marty” the best.

Third, does location matter? Is your ideal customer located in a specific region? Or is there a common language?

Fourth, what is the gender of your persona? You may have already thought through this when we gave your persona a name, but think a little deeper. Is there a dominant gender that is your ideal customer?

Fifth, what is the education level of this customer? Do they have a college degree, high school or maybe even a graduate degree?

Sixth, marital status is also important to think through. Single, married, domestic partnership or divorced (and others) are all helpful when thinking about your customer.

Seventh, is your customer spending time on social media? Which platform do they prefer, why?

Lastly, why are they ultimately choosing your product or service? What is motivating them to complete the purchase with you? Are they overcoming any obstacles or objections in order to make their purchase?

Did some of these questions bring up more questions or realizations about your ideal customer? I hope you went ahead and expanded on those and added them to your final persona.

Once you have your buyer persona you can make sure that the work you do, the products and services that you continue to offer are for those personas. Marketing campaigns can be targeted directly to these personas. And will definitely be a big step in the right direction of strengthening your WooCommerce Store.

3. Leverage More Channels

Want to get new customers from your current customers? Then you need to start utilizing social media platforms.

“The bottom line: the best way to get repeat sales is to get more of the right customers, and the best way to get more of the right customers is to deliberately leverage the network of the customers you already have.” – Sujan Patel – SujanPatel.com

Once you are targeting your ideal customer and they are happy with their purchase then chances are their friends are like them. You can use their social capital to gain even more customers. Asking for reviews in the post-purchase or taking a survey of customers through email can be very useful. You can take quotes and post them on your social media platforms as well as your website to add even more credibility to your WooCommerce store.

Social media can be complex. You need to know which platform your customers are using. I hope that the persona exercise helped you answer this question. A lot of artists and travel bloggers have found success on Instagram while a chef or interior designer may want to use Pinterest. I know a local jewelry maker who utilized Instagram pictures and video so well that she quickly amassed a worldwide audience.

Social media also allows you to be creative and to take chances. I am sure everyone remembers the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” it raised more than $220 million for Lou Gehrig’s disease research since 2014. It was a viral sensation that resulted in actual donations.

Creativity on social media platforms can be a key that leads to success for you in your own WooCommerce store.

I see brands that use social media to just announce sales or coupons and never engage with their community. To me, a winning brand on social media is one that is present and part of the conversation and not just sending out announcements to the internet.

For example, Wendy’s has gained a lot of popularity on Twitter this year by interacting albeit in a sassy way with its audience, but they are talking to people and not being robotic and it has paid off.

A Wendy’s spokesperson shared with Entrepreneur, “We see ourselves as a challenger with charm, so we can take advantage of opportunities to engage with our fans in very different way from our competitors.”

And you can find your voice on social media as well. Use your platform to be a part of the conversation and add value where you can. Social media is not a digital billboard. It is a space where you can truly showcase your brand and create fans not just customers.

Is there more to do?

Your eCommerce store is a work in progress. The dials need to be turned constantly until you find what works for you and your customers. One thing is true, your business will not survive if you don’t keep working on it and become complacent. A quote by Andy Grove hits a little close to home.

Lindsey Miller is the Partner Manager for Liquid Web's Managed WordPress Hosting. She's been involved in various aspects in the WordPress community for over 7 years and helped start a non-profit teaching kids to code, The Div.